


i don’t wanna wake up from you

by Ace of Cups (tashayar)



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 02:06:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15184394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tashayar/pseuds/Ace%20of%20Cups
Summary: She was dreaming of a beach. Normally, this would have been a pleasant dream. There would be soft sand beneath her feet, the taste of salt on her lips, and gentle waves carrying in a cool breeze from the sea.But there was no sand here, only ash. The air tasted stale instead of salty, and the waves, while small, were much more menacing than gentle.





	i don’t wanna wake up from you

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Book XIII - Death  
> Title from Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams"
> 
> The apprentice is my oc, Luna, who uses she/her pronouns

She was dreaming of a beach. Normally, this would have been a pleasant dream. There would be soft sand beneath her feet, the taste of salt on her lips, and gentle waves carrying in a cool breeze from the sea.

But there was no sand here, only ash. The air tasted stale instead of salty, and the waves, while small, were much more menacing than gentle.

The Lazaret stood before her, and while it had never been a welcome sight, uncovered memories made it feel as though the island itself were staring right through her. A flicker of dread flashed in the pit of her stomach like a lightning bolt.

Luna blinked, and everything was on fire.

She felt a rush of heat as a strong wind picked up, sending the flames licking hungrily at her skin. She felt the dust collect on her feet as she was immersed in the flames, the fire surrounding her like a shroud. She breathed in the smoke, coughing as she felt the ash coat her lungs. Her ears ringed with a horrible silence, even as she watched the flames flicker and wave, devouring everything.  The fire was slithering up her body, wrapping around her like her own veins that branched from each other underneath her skin.

The screams of dying people fell on deaf ears as she was blocked in by walls of flickering flame.

_I’m sorry…_

“Luna? Luna, wake up.”

Luna opened her eyes to see Asra, sitting up in bed beside her and touching her shoulder with concern.

“You were screaming, are you alright?”

Luna took a shaky breath, half expecting to taste ash again, and blinked a few times. “I will be, I think.” She sat up to lean into Asra’s touch.

“Nightmare?” Asra asked. From the look in his eyes, he knew exactly what it had been about. When Luna just nodded, he put his arm around her, holding her close. “I didn’t even think about what your memories would be like when you came back, I didn’t think about anything but how much I wanted you-”

Luna pulled away slightly and cut him off with a finger to his lips. “Hey, we’ve been through this.” Her voice lowered as she spoke with sincerity. “I would have done the same for you, remember?”

Asra blinked in surprise. “You meant that? After I left, after everything, you still wanted me?”

“You complete idiot,” she scolded gently with a strange longing quality to her voice. “Of course I wanted you. So much more than you ever realized.”

Where were these words coming from? And why was her vision suddenly cloudy with oncoming tears? Luna pulled herself into Asra’s chest and breathed in the familiar smell of him. She reached up a hand to wipe away her tears, when he caught her wrist with a rough hand.

She looked at him with a look of confused surprise, until he brought her hand to his mouth and laid a gentle kiss on it.

“I’m so sorry,” Asra said softly, looking up at her from under dark lashes. “I can think of a few ways to make it up to you.”

Luna felt a shiver go down her spine at the brush of his lips, and she felt her heart rate pick up at the smooth tone of his voice. And oh, the implications of what he was saying… she wasn’t sure if she could formulate a comprehensible sentence as she struggled to think through the sudden heat she felt growing inside her. It felt nice to experience a fire that was welcome.

“You’d better get started then,” she finally responded breathlessly, “before the universe pulls us apart again.”

Asra’s eyes lowered to her hand to slowly kiss his way up her arm. Luna bit her lip to stop herself from moaning out loud. She relished every touch of his lips, goosebumps popping up on her arm despite the glowing fire and insistent, hot ache she suddenly felt. Maybe she wasn’t thinking properly, or maybe she was thinking more clearly than she ever had before, but for once she just couldn’t seem to care.

Did he feel as relieved as she did? His expression hadn’t changed when she had spoken what she had kept inside for so long, but then Luna realized it was because he had always looked at her with longing. Her own anxiety had just stopped her from noticing up until this point.

Once he reached her neck, he slowly reached up to pull the side of her nightdress over her shoulder, meeting her eyes with an expression of such caring that Luna wanted to sob. Instead, she put her hand on the side of his face, grazing his cheeks, and pulled him to her, her own lips crushing down on his.

The kiss wasn’t gentle, but she didn’t intend for it to be. She pushed her tongue against his and brought her arms up around his neck. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth, and he held onto her like she was a life raft in the middle of a stormy ocean.

Luna had thought the desire she felt burning inside her would be sated by finally having him this close, but the flames only flickered higher and higher until they completely consumed her. The need she felt for him was suddenly so overwhelming, so pure and primal; Luna wanted to be so close to him it wouldn’t be possible for them to be apart again. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this wanted, this full of emotion, this… alive.

“Asra,” she sighed his name as she pulled her lips from his to kiss his jaw, his nose, his forehead, anywhere she could reach.

Her hands ran over his shoulders and down his chest, and she suddenly felt like she had to touch him everywhere. Once she started tugging on his shirt to get it over his head, Asra seemed to lose whatever restraint he had been putting on himself up until that point. While he nipped at her neck, his hands were sliding under the bottom hem of the nightdress to rest on her bare skin.

“Let me take the nightmares away,” he whispered against her skin, and she could feel the ghost of his lips, so close to touching her.

She let out a gasp as her head fell back, all but yanking her nightdress off for him. He was dragging his teeth gently over her skin as his head traveled lower and his hands traveled higher. She arched her back into his touch as his fingers grazed the underside of her breast and he laid a kiss over her heart. Her hands gripped at his shoulders, feeling the muscles there rippling under his pale skin and pulling him into her. She felt his breath over the sensitive skin on her chest, and then his mouth was on her nipple, circling it at a maddeningly slow pace with his tongue.

Her back arched off the bed and her fingernails dug into his back in response. She didn’t try to stop to moan that escaped her mouth. She could feel his smug smile against her skin as his touches became more insistent. He bit at her chest and she could already feel the marks he was leaving there.

“Oh, so lovely,” he whispered to himself as he kissed down her body again, over the marks he had left, and further this time, until he stopped just below her waist.

It was as if all the heat that had been spreading throughout Luna’s body was suddenly pooling between her legs, and before she could think about what she was doing, she was easing her thighs apart for him. In response, his hands slid down the tops of her thighs to trace patterns into the smooth skin there, and his mouth stayed where he had stopped, his tongue gently gliding over the spots just above where she wanted him the most. She hitched a leg around his shoulder, grinding herself into him with a soft whinge. He still seemed intent on teasing her; his fingers moved to trace along the inside of her legs as she shivered, and she swore his tongue was touching less and less of her skin.

“Asra, lower,” she finally groaned out, her leg sliding higher on his back.

“As you wish,” he breathed in response, one hand moving up to slide along her slick lips oh so gently.

She let out a long moan as his clever fingers found her at last, petting at her burning core. He kissed her inner thigh as he slipped two fingers inside, and she almost let out a shout of relief. He was nipping at her again as his mouth traveled up her leg toward the apex. She thrust her hips against his hand, willing him to take her faster. Instead, he started curling his fingers inside her at his same maddeningly slow pace, and he was soon hitting that perfect spot, over and over again.

“Yes, oh yes, there,” she cried out, feeling herself tightening around him as the fire rose higher and higher.

His thumb suddenly flicked over her clit, eliciting another cry from her as she started to clench around him. And then his mouth was there; it felt to her as if he knew her body perfectly as he sucked on that sensitive nub just hard enough. Finally his fingers began to curl inside her faster and faster, and she was letting out breathy gasps at each stroke. She felt everything within her contract, and she just caught him whispering three words into her skin before she was flying apart beneath him, his name a moan on her lips.

She collapsed back onto the bed, her head hitting the mattress and her entire body feeling boneless and light. Through the fading haze of pleasure, she saw him looking up at her not with the smug expression she expected him to have, but rather a gaze of pure desire. She felt the ache within her slowly returning as he traveled up her body, kissing every inch of her skin with such passion, as if he was trying to commit it all to memory. Maybe he already had.

Her hands slid down his chest to his pants of their own accord, and she felt just as desperate for him as she had moments ago. Except this time she knew how blissful she would feel once she had him, and that thought had her hands working faster, suddenly feeling so empty without him. He caught her mouth with his as he got rid of the few layers left between them. Her teeth grazed his lips as her hand found him, her fingers stroking down the length of him just as gentle and teasing as his had been inside her.

With a low groan, he sucked her tongue back into his mouth and pulled her wrists above her head. She let out a small whimper, longing to feel him again. She pulled back to look at Asra, completely splayed out and wanting underneath him. He responded by moving in to kiss and nip at the tender skin of her neck—he seemed to have figured out that was something that drove her crazy—and he was suddenly there, pressing gently at her sensitive and aching flesh, causing her hips to buck against his.

She could feel him smile against her neck before moving one hand down to hold her hip steady. That didn’t stop her back from arching and her letting out a long, low moan as he slid himself inside her. With another whimpering plea, she locked her legs around his waist, trying to grind her hips against his in a mindless search for friction. She tilted her head back and let out a shout as he finally began to move, and she worked to meet him thrust for thrust.

“Did you… did you mean it?” Luna managed to gasp out through the waves of pleasure rippling through her.

“Mean what, sweetheart?” His voice was somehow still as smooth as silk despite his quickening movements.

“What- what you said.” The sentence was punctuated with a moan, before she continued. “Just now.”

“Never doubt it for a second, Luna,” he whispered by her ear, causing her to shiver under him.

His voice was enough on its own to push her to the edge, and she was still so sensitive from his long, steady fingers, and he had said that he loved her… she felt the familiar rise of the fire inside her, but oh, the flames were so much brighter and he was holding her down and grinding against her clit with every motion and it was all so wonderful. She squeezed her eyes shut as her moans became, shorter, more frequent, and louder.

“Look at me.” His voice came through the overwhelming flames of pleasure coursing through her. “You’re going to be glorious, and I want to see you, my love.”

The endearment slid off his tongue so perfectly, and she felt so consumed by the fire, but her eyes flew open to meet with his just before her orgasm crashed over her, her moans blending together into one long keen. He followed almost immediately after her, and she could just hear him repeating her name over and over again as he stiffened above her.

When she came to her senses again, she realized he had brought her hands back down and was kissing her wrists where he had been holding her.

“Oh, Asra, darling,” she sighed out his name and stretched herself languidly on the bed.

“Come here, Luna.” He pulled her gently onto his lap and she rested her head against his chest. It took her a minute of tracing outlines on the skin there contentedly before wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him close.

“I love you,” she breathed out. “I’ve always loved you.”

He kissed the top of her head and stroked her side absentmindedly. “And I love you.” He licked at the shell of her ear playfully, causing her to giggle. “And I’m not letting you go this time.”

“I won’t let you.” She reached a hand down to entwine with his, then letting her head fall back against him again.

Her heavy eyelids closed, the gentle sound of Asra’s breathing calming her. She didn’t have to worry about nightmares now, because she knew now she wouldn’t have to face them alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [Tumblr!](https://apprenticeluna.tumblr.com/)


End file.
